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Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's approval rating as preferred prime minister has sunk to a new low of just 7 per cent in the latest poll out today.
The Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper has Dr Nelson's rating slipping two points from its previous low of 9 per cent.
The Coalition has lost further ground on a two-party preferred basis, down 6 points to 37 per cent, while the Government has a 63 per cent share of the vote.
Voter support for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as preferred prime minister is up 3 points to 73 per cent.
Coalition frontbencher Chris Ellison has downplayed the latest poor figures.Mr Ellison says opinion polls this close to the last election do not count.
- By Gus Leonisky at 4 Mar 2008 - 10:26pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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Pretty, but no guts...
Billion-dollar dud: A Navy Seasprite goes through its paces (www.navy.gov.au)
The Federal Government has cancelled Australia's $1 billion commitment to the Royal Australian Navy's controversial Seasprite helicopter project.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon made the announcement at a visit to a Newcastle engineering firm this morning.
The $1 billion Seasprite fleet was due to enter service in 2001 but was indefinitely grounded in 2006.
An upgrade of a 1960s airframe with 21st century avionics, the helicopters are unable to be operated reliably in poor visibility conditions and at night.
...
"The decision taken by the Rudd Labor Government is one that should have been taken by the Leader of the Opposition, Brendan Nelson, when he had the opportunity last year.
"But his Government decided to put its own political interests ahead of the national interest. Consequently, the responsibility of cleaning up the mess they created falls to us."
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Gus: in the blogs that follow this article some crank complains that Beazley left the problems of the "Collins Class" submarines to the Howard government that followed... Not so...
The main problem with these subs were noise and a few teething problems — normal with such complex new beasts... Beazley would have fixed the problems, but the Labor government was bowled out before he could... In the case of the Seasprite, problems were obvious from the start. Buying some old second hand stock from the 1960s and try to make new silk purse out of it, is sailing into the heart of a storm...
It's like me trying to fix my old Hillman and its faulty electric gearbox with a new paint job...
A new refit of the gear box, the clutch and the electric system plus tailor-made computer would have cost as much as buying a brand new Ferrari, if the car mechanics stopped laughing at me. but it would have still have been a Hillman with a crank start... Pretty, but no guts.